All of my cars have been manual, which includes a Chevy S10, a VW Rabbit, a Nissan Maxima, a Subaru WRX, and finally my new MCS. This is the best tranny so far. The WRX was like shifting a box of rocks, and all the others were pretty rubbery compared to the Getrag. I also like being able to grab 1st gear while I'm still moving, which was all but impossible in the WRX.

I find the clutch is pretty good, but having so little torque makes a smooth takeoff tricky. My Maxima had so much torque you could just dump the clutch with almost no throttle, and it would start rolling. The WRX's powerband was so peaky that it was tricky to get a smooth shift in any gear, but very rewarding when you got it right.

So, that's a wordy way of saying that I really like the MCS. So far my only difficulty is pulling off a good heel-toe, because the brake and gas pedals are all screwed up. I really need to do something about that.

 

I have been driving sticks for 35 years. Other than the 05 BoxsterS, the MINI is nicest to stick use and simplest to teach someone to drive a manual.

 

I think it's easy to drive. It never even occurred to me that it was difficult until it was mentioned here in these forums that it was. I have quite a bit of manual experience so maybe that's the reason.

 

i find the clutch take up to be awesome. the selector a bit notchy. overall a nice package (a bit noisy like the rest of the mini)

generally easy to drive. reverse is a bit tricky as you have to wait a second after depressing clutch pedal otherwise you get a nice clunk into reverse - due to no reverse synchro i believe?

fun car overall!

 

To me, the MINI is incredibly easy to drive...but i think its really important to note that I learned how to drive a stick on my husband's EVO that now had an Exedy twin-plate clutch that grabs like you wouldn't believe...so when I got my MINI, it felt smooth as butter in comparison

 

Late to the party I know, but I'm waiting for my MINI to arrive and I'd never driven stick when I ordered it!

A friend let me learn on his Ford Focus, which is really tough to shift!! You really have to slam that thing into gear. When I test-drove a Cooper S, shifting was SO EASY compared to the Focus. I'm looking forward to practicing with the new MINI.

 

My entire stick experience was a Jeep Wrangler in '96-98. I did a 20' test drive two weeks ago and only killed the engine once (selected 3rd when I wanted 1st from stop light). The MCS seemed very very easy to shift and control.

My biggest obstacle will be MCS's placement of reverse gear. In my Jeep, to prevent accidental selection of 3rd, my arm learned to aggressively jam the stick left as far as it would go then up, to ensure getting into first. I'll have to drive the Mini very carefully until that little habit is gone.

Good luck with everything! You'll have fun with the stick! --doug

 

Like so many others here, I have been driving manual trans cars for 30 plus years. I don't really find any manual trans difficult. But as a comparison to others, yes it is more difficult in my opinion. Unlike everyone esle here I can't tell you why in technical terms but I have had many other cars that are much easier to shift. I think it is appropriate for the car, but more difficult than some Hondas and Toyotas that I have had.

But I also have a 72 VW Bus with four on the floor and that is a manual trans many people find very difficult. It is tough, but like everything else, you get use to it.

 

yeah all of my friends said mini's clutch is a bit too heavy compare to GTIs, eclipse, etc... well BMW in general... they are a bit heaby